On Wed, Apr 23, 2003 at 10:30:41AM +0100, lynn.mundy{at}btopenworld.com wrote:

> I am in the middle of writing my first spooky.  
> What constitutes a short story?  

This depends almost entirely on who is defining it.  SFWA
has definitions.  I expect HWA (Horror Writers of America)
has some too.  Individual magazines have definitions.  Very
generally, something over ten thousand words is not a short
story any more.  Some venues will draw the line at five
thousand, or seven, or eight.  Pages are not relevant,
because they vary too much by format.

> I have been told in the past that I should limit my 
> "inner thoughts."  I can go along with that most of 
> the time, but when confronted with the "presence" 
> there doesn't seem to be away around it to make it work.  
> Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

The genuine needs of the story trump all the writing advice in
the universe.

Note, too, that you were not told to eliminate inner thoughts,
but to limit them.  That means using them sometimes.  This is
probably one of those times.

-- 

Pamela Dean Dyer-Bennet           (pddb{at}demesne.com)
"I will open my heart to a blank page
   and interview the witnesses."  John M. Ford, "Shared World"

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